The removal of the devices by the upper stage will take about four hours
VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, July 1. /TASS/. The Soyuz-2.1 b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 36 British OneWeb communication satellites launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome.
In about nine minutes, the "Frigate" with the satellites will separate from the third stage of the rocket. The removal of the devices by the upper stage will take about four hours. The satellites will be separated in several stages.
This is the eighth launch of OneWeb satellites, it should bring the number of spacecraft of the British company in orbit to 254. As the company clarified earlier, this launch will allow providing communication to all regions north of 50 degrees north latitude. A commemorative inscription "Hello, North Pole"is applied to the head fairing.
On Tuesday, as part of the All-Russian motorcycle race " Our Cosmos-60. Yuri Gagarin "representatives of the Night Wolves motorcycle club arrived at Vostochny. They watched the rocket launch.
The first six OneWeb satellites went into orbit from the Kourou cosmodrome on a Soyuz-ST rocket on February 28, 2019. 34 spacecraft were launched from Baikonur on February 7, 2020, and the same number were launched on March 21 of the same year. For the first time, OneWeb satellites were launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in December 2020. 36 devices were withdrawn. Then the launches under the program from the Vostochny cosmodrome took place on March 25, April 26 and May 28, 2021.
The updated agreement between OneWeb and Arianespace involves the launch of 16 Russian Soyuz rockets from the Kourou, Vostochny and Baikonur cosmodromes in 2020-2022. Each launch will allow putting from 34 to 36 vehicles into orbit. On April 9, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin told reporters that the first-generation OneWeb system will be created in late 2022-early 2023.
